Darren Criss: King of the High School Musical

"Glee" Warbler Darren Criss chats with GQ about his soaring fame and his humble Hogwarts roots

Even before 24-year-old Darren Criss swooped onto Glee this season as Blaine, the charming lead vocalist of rival all-boy band the Warblers, the kid had a cultish following. Granted, they were all musical-theater nerds. Criss's previous claim to fame? Playing Harry Potter in a musical parody that went viral on YouTube. "I never imagined it would be viewed by teenagers in Australia," he says. That kind of stepped-in-it success seems to follow Criss, who—in one short season—swiftly toppled Glee's record for fastest-selling debut singles with his cover of "Teenage Dream" and snagged the Warblers their own album. (Burn, Lea!) And yet all this stuff is the work equivalent of a hot-stone massage for the actor. "It's all very relaxing," he says. "You get a trailer on-set. You get treated really well." To keep it that way, Criss has devised a way to get around incognito: "I don't shave when I'm not working." Not exactly Harry Potter's invisibility cloak, but it'll do.

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